First reported by a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River in 1833, the annual Geminid meteor shower has been captivating viewers for nearly two centuries, and it keeps getting better.
Due to the gravitational influence of Jupiter, the meteor shower’s brilliant streaks are becoming visibly brighter with each passing year as Earth orbits through the dust trail left by orbiting asteroid 3200 Phaethon, making its December appearance high in the southern sky near the constellation Gemini a must-see event.
To mark this year’s spectacular meteor shower, a few Missouri state parks in the southern region of the state are holding rare after-dark events.
